1st week of work

Here's what I've been up to for the last week:

Friday Oct. 8^th (Ambato) After visiting Quisapincha in the morning with Andrés and Maria, I had lunch at la Mamiña's, (that´s what they call Rocío's mom – I'm not sure what her real name is). What we ate I can´t remember. Quisapincha is know for its leather, and its ecological farm. María was showing me all the plants, flowers, animals... Apparently Ecuadorians like to eat guinea pigs (cuy).... that is one type of food I will NOT try. So around 3.30pm I traveled back to Quito with la Mamiña – I slept most of the way. She was going for a prayer meeting that Carlos and Diana were hosting, which I wound up attending. There were about 3 or 4 other couples. After singing some songs, accompanied by a guitar, we talked for like an hour and a half, most of it dealing with the couples' children. They basically asked me, “what did your parents do to make you turn out good? Lol. Oh! And I had mote for the first time that night - mote is a hard corn that's peeled with calcium carbonate solution, and then boiled in salt water, according to the internet) de todos modos, I liked it.

Saturday Oct. 9^th 

I spent all morning in the kitchen with Diana while she made lunch. She showed me how to make oatmeal juice (jugo de avena), which was actually quite delicious! I'll have to make it in the States if I can find all the ingredients. I also helped Jose Mateo with his math homework. Later on in the afternoon Diana took the kids and me to two of the malls, both of which are pretty close to the apartment. The object was to see if there was WiFi in the food courts – no such luck. But I was able to get some groceries at Super Maxi. At night, around 10, I´m sitting at my laptop in the kitchen, and Carlos walks in, wearing pajamas, and asks, “Quieres ir a conocer Quito?” (Do you want to take a little tour of Quito?” I said, sure! So he changes clothes, we take Jose Mateo and Mauricio with us, and we head out in their red station wagon. First stop: La zona rosa, where all the bars and nightclubs are. We find a parking space, hop out, and wander around. This area actually looks a lot cleaner than Bella Vista, the neighborhood where we used to go out in Santiago. After a short walk, we pile back into the car and head for Quito Antiguo (the old town). This part of the city was named a UNESCO world heritage site in … It's happening place – young and old are walking the steep cobblestone streets. There are clubs, restaurants, and even some souvenir and chocolate shops are still open. Carlos bought me a drink called canelazo, a delicious spiced cinnamon rum drink. 

After wandering around the old city for a bit, we up this rather large hill, at the top of which is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary. From here there are spectacular views of the city. And we tried to count the churches - there are ALOT. Some are really really old. Anyway, after that we went to the President's house, and then a snack, a Shawarmi from a Middle Eastern restaurant - it's chicken shaved off a stick (you ever see those big slabs of meat on a stick in the window?) in a pita, with some lettuce, tomato, and, to my surprise, two french fries. It was delicious.

Sunday Oct. 10^th

Mass was at 10:15am, and only took about 45 minutes. I noticed right away that the priest was from Spain (can't miss that Spanish accent!).  The only music was a woman singing and playing guitar, as it usually is in most South American churches that I've seen. In the afternoon, since it was Sabrina's birthday, we went to Vulqano Park, an amusement park, but NOTHING like what we have in the states. The only real roller coaster was this little rinky-dink thing that bangs you up more than anything else (I have the bruises to prove it). I also made the mistake of riding el martillo (the hammer), you know, the thing that swings back and forth, and goes higher and higher until you eventually make it all the way upside down and around - that one hurts like  a ***** too cause it presses you up sooo hard against the restraint. Not to mention the fact that I was a little queasy afterwards… I got banged up pretty good from the bumper cars too - those things are NOT meant for people with long legs.

Monday Oct. 11^th

First day of work! Diana walked me over to the office, it's about a ten minute commute. It's a very small office. There were two staff writers and two other interns in one room (all from the US – Emily, Rachel, Desiree, and Allison), and the rest of the building was tech people (all Ecuadorians). There's another company or 2 housed here as well, all owned by the CEO of V!VA. For lunch I went with the girls to Casa del Queso (House of Cheese), which is actually on the way back to my apartment. For $4.50 you get a cheesy entree, salad, and a glass of wine or juice. When we went they were out of juice, so wine it was! 

I basically spent the day getting acquainted with the website, the print guides, and some other writing and office regulations materials. My first assignments were to write a few entries for the Costa Rica guidebook (volunteering, working, etc.) I was a little surprised to be doing writing for a guide book, considering I've never actually been to Costa Rica.

Tuesday Oct. 12^th

More of the same, with a blog post about teaching English in Latin America as well.

Wednesday

More of the same. Fixed menu at a vegetarian restaurant for lunch – where there was only one thing that I didn't like – I'm not even sure what it was. Humitas con café for dinner. (Humitas are mashed up corn – they can be sweet or salty, I like them sweet).

Thursday

Emily, said she liked my dress, and that I´m so fashionable – I know, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor too. 

Lunch at an Indian Restaurant in La Mariscal. Corn with cheese for dinner (are you noticing a pattern?)

A word on lunch. Lunch is the main meal of the day for Ecuadorians. It usually consists of two dishes: a soup to start off with, and then the main plate (which ALWAYS includes rice).

Friday

Rachel and I had lunch by ourselves today, since everyone else was leaving early to go to Banos. She wouldn’t have guessed that I’m a Jersey girl, and I told her that no one does, lol. We got tacos in La Mariscal – they were pretty good.

There's a tradition in the office called Beer Fridays - The last person to write "not it" on their gmail status has to go get beer for everyone at 5pm. The office was a bit depleted today, with three of the girls going to Banos at 2pm and, well, a bunch of others just leaving early. But Rachel, Paula (editor in chief), and I stuck it out (I got the beer).